Pascal Fischer

White light propagation invariant beams

Propagation invariant light fields such as Bessel light beams are of interest in a variety of current areas such as micromanipulation of atoms and mesoscopic particles, laser plasmas, and the study of optical angular momentum. Considering the optical fields as a superposition of conical waves, we discuss how the coherence properties of light play a key role in their formation. As an example, we show that Bessel beams can be created from temporally incoherent broadband light sources including a halogen bulb. By using a supercontinuum source we elucidate how the beam behaves as a function of bandwidth of the incident light field.

Enhanced optical guiding of colloidal particles using a supercontinuum light source.

We demonstrate enhanced optical guiding distances for microscopic particles using a supercontinuum light beam. The enhanced spectral bandwidth of the source leads to an elongated focal region. As a result we obtain a significant radial gradient force and axial radiation pressure force over a longer distance when compared to a monochromatic Gaussian beam. The guiding distances of up to 3mm that are observed for micron-sized particles with the supercontinuum beam are approximately twice those observed using continuous wave and femtosecond laser sources when considering beams of equivalent diameter. This guiding scheme is expected to be applicable to colloidal particles, biological cells and cold atom ensembles.

Two-photon ablation with 1278 nm laser radiation

We report on precise two-photon ablation with 110 fs laser pulses at 1278 nm, emitted from a Cr:forsterite laser. Selective two-photon ablation of Muntjac deer chromosomes is demonstrated. The two-photon absorption at 639 nm was enhanced by using Methylene blue dye as a photosensitizer. This stain has a strong absorption in the region around 650 nm but 100% transmission around 1300 nm, allowing increased specificity: material that has absorbed the dye is ablated but undyed material is left unaffected. The low group velocity dispersion in glass at 1278 nm led to negligible pulse broadening in the focusing objective where the 100 fs pulses stretched to 110 fs. This contrasts to the 100 fs pulses at 780 nm that were measured to stretch to 300 fs under the same conditions.

The dark spots of Arago

We explore the diffraction and propagation of Laguerre- Gaussian beams of varying azimuthal index past a circular obstacle both experimentally and numerically. When the beam and obstacle centers are aligned the famous spot of Arago, which arises for zero azimuthal index, is replaced for non-zero azimuthal indices by a dark spot of Arago, a simple consequence of the conserved phase singularity at the beam center. We explore how the dark spot of Arago behaves as the beam and obstacle centers are progressively misaligned, and find that the central dark spot may break into several dark spots of Arago for higher incident azimuthal index beams.

Deep tissue penetration of radiation: 3D modelling and experiments

In this paper, deep tissue penetration of radiation into biological tissue which is, important for biopsy and photodynamic therapy is discussed. To obtain a better understanding of the light scattering mechanisms, experimental results are compared with 3D Monte Carlo simulations

Enhanced particle guiding using supercontinuum radiation

We demonstrate the use of supercontinuum radiation to provide enhanced guiding distances of microscopic particles compared to the standard continuous wave or femtosecond lasers. Our technique relies on the chromatic aberration of the lens used to form an elongated focal region within which guiding takes place. The resulting beam profile has been modelled and shows that for a Gaussian input beam, the intensity profile after the lens can be considered as a sum of Gaussians, one for each wavelength but with varying focal position due to dispersion. Our experimental investigations compare radiation from continuous wave (bandwidth <1nm) and femtosecond pulsed (bandwidth > 100nm) lasers as well as supercontinuum radiation (bandwidth > 450nm) and show good agreement with theory.

White Light Takes Shape

Beam engineering can create unusual beam propagation properties such as diffraction-free propagation.